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A Guide for Preschool Programs

CCCConnecticutonnecticutonnecticutCCCCCCEARLY CHILDHOOD SRBI

Supporting All Children

High-quality preschool programs support all children, regardless of their range of experience or current skills, abilities and interests. Early Childhood SRBI off ers a framework for providing this support and ensuring that the needs of our youngest learners are met. Many of the key components of this framework are already present in high-quality preschool programs.

Early Childhood SRBI is adapted from Scientifi c Research-Based Interventions (SRBI), Connecticut’s Framework for Response to Intervention (RTI), currently being implemented in elementary, middle, and high schools throughout the state. Implementing a similar framework, appropriate for early childhood, will help to ensure that our youngest learners have a solid foundation for future life and school success.

Key Components of Early Childhood SRBI

• High-quality core curriculum that addresses state learning standards in all domains;

• Assessment to determine how children are progressing;

• Individualized support, across multiple tiers, for children who are not making expected progress;

• Collaborative problem solving as a basis for making decisions; and

• Comprehensive supports for social, emotional, behavioral, mental and physical health.

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-Tier I-All children receive high-quality curriculum and instruction.

CurriculumCurriculum includes multiple components and is more than just a collection of activities. In addition to planning for the materials and activities to support children’s learning, intentional teaching includes consideration of the teacher’s role in supporting children’s growth, the needs and interests of individual children, and how families will be involved. High-quality early childhood curriculum includes:

1. Performance standards (learning expectations) for children, based on or aligned with state standards. In Connecticut, learning expectations for children in their preschool years may be found in the Connecticut Preschool Curriculum Framework and Preschool Assessment Framework, as well as the Prekindergarten to Grade 8 Curriculum Standards for content areas.

2. Ongoing assessment of children’s skills, development and abilities based on the identifi ed performance standards across all domains, including personal-social and physical development.

3. Content in language and literacy, mathematical concepts, scientifi c inquiry, social studies and the creative arts.

4. Processes and learning experiences that are developmentally appropriate, culturally responsive and use child interest to capture the energy of children’s curiosity.

5. Teacher interaction that promotes a positive climate and balances teacher-directed and child-initiated experiences.

6. Intentional organization of the environment, schedule and materials.

7. Partnerships with families that involve meaningful and culturally relevant participation.

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Th e core curriculum

includes high-quality

standards-based learning

experiences and instruction for all

children.

Individualized SupportPreschool teachers diff erentiate instruction for children within the general curriculum. Th ey recognize that there is a range of typical child development and help each child make progress from his or her current skill and knowledge level. In addition, they incorporate individual children’s interests, backgrounds, and learning styles into the general classroom experience.

Assessment Assessment plays an important role in Early Childhood SRBI. Preschool teachers continuously collect information on all children in their classrooms. Th ey observe and document examples of how children are learning related to performance standards and include information gathered from children’s families and other caregivers.

Early Childhood SRBI also includes the use of a type of assessment referred to as universal screening, which focuses on behavior and/or key developmental skills to determine if the curriculum is eff ective for individual students. Th e purpose of this tool is to identify children for whom additional classroom support may be necessary. If the universal screening shows that a large number of children require additional support, this may mean that the core curriculum is not supporting the learning needs of the children in the class.

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Selecting a universal screening tool in early childhood takes special consideration. In SRBI, universal screenings are typically tools that look at key skills, are quick to administer and low-cost and can be administered several times throughout the year. In early childhood, there are many additional factors to consider when making decisions about which tool to use as a universal screening. Below are some questions to guide decisions around universal screening for Early Childhood SRBI:

• Who will be screened? How will screening results be considered for children who have just started preschool and have not yet had the opportunity to benefi t from the core curriculum?

• What are the key skills in each domain that will help determine which children are in need of additional support?

• Do current assessments provide the information needed to determine which children need support?

Could information from a current system of ongoing observation, documentation and assessment be used for this purpose? Do current developmental screening practices provide the necessary

information?

• If new assessments are considered for use as a universal screening, what questions should be asked about each potential tool?

Does this tool measure the application of skills or just look at identifi cation and labeling of items?

Will this tool require that additional information be gathered so that supports can be appropriately targeted toward understanding of concepts instead of rote memorization?

How will staff be trained on the use of this tool?

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Universal screening for

Early Childhood SRBI targets key skills and helps

to determine which students

need instructional supports.

Collaborative Problem Solving After a universal screening, it is important to bring together a team to review the results of the assessment. Th is process is often referred to as collaborative problem solving. It may take place in a data team,

a child study team or another appropriate collaborative group. In a preschool setting, this team may include caregivers from other settings, teachers and specialists from the preschool program and professionals from the local school district or other community agencies. If the structures are not yet in place to support a large group collaborative meeting, a child’s teacher may consult with another teacher or outside experts to discuss the needs of individual children, as appropriate.

Initially a team will examine the information gathered for the whole class and/or program.

Questions to be asked at this time include:

• What do the results of the universal screening tool show? • Is the core curriculum eff ective for most children? • Which children require additional supports based on the

universal screening?

When planning for individual children, the following questions should be asked:

• What additional information is needed to understand this child’s needs and determine appropriate intervention strategies? How will this information be gathered?

• In what ways will this child’s family be involved in gathering additional information, making decisions and monitoring progress?

• Who else should be included on the team? • After gathering and discussing additional information, what

supports are appropriate for the targeted skills, who will implement these supports and how will we monitor progress?

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Collaborative problem solving

supports teachers by

providing an opportunity for teamwork and

shared decision-making.

-Tier II-Th e school or program provides help for children who need more

support than they are receiving from the core curriculum.

Children who are in need of more support continue to participate in the high-quality core curriculum.

Individualized SupportChildren who are not making expected progress toward specifi c performance standards need additional targeted learning opportunities as determined through the collaborative problem solving process. Eff ective intentional teaching strategies may be used as interventions in preschool and can usually be embedded into daily classroom routines. Th ey may occur in small or large group settings. An intervention may consist of planning additional opportunities to address a targeted skill in multiple areas of the classroom. Other evidence-based strategies include teacher modeling, prompting and peer modeling. Th e use of such embedded strategies must be intentionally planned and individualized for each student.

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AssessmentChildren who are receiving Tier II supports continue to be a part of a program/classroom’s general assessment plan. In addition, progress on the targeted skills should be assessed to determine if the individualized support is working. Th is is often referred to as progress monitoring. Progress monitoring occurs more frequently in Tier II than in Tier I.

Collaborative Problem Solving Th e decision-making team will meet to discuss the child’s progress after supports have been in place for several weeks.

Tier II considerations for the collaborative problem solving team are included below:

• Does the information collected show evidence that the child has made progress with the current support?

• Does this child now exhibit the skills considered appropriate for his or her age range? Should Tier II support be faded or discontinued?

• Does this child continue to need the same level of support? If so, are the current strategies appropriate or should new Tier II strategies be considered?

• If the information collected shows that this child is making limited progress, does he/she require more frequent individualized support in order to make additional progress? If so, this is referred to as Tier III.

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-Tier III-Th e school or program provides more intensive interventions

for children who need the most support.

Children who are in need of more individualized support continue to participate in the high-quality core curriculum.

Individualized Support Children who have not made suffi cient progress with Tier II intervention require more intensive supports. In Early Childhood SRBI, the same strategies are generally appropriate for use as either Tier II or Tier III supports. Th e diff erence is that for Tier III, these strategies occur more often or for a longer duration. For example, a teacher may include additional strategies targeting the skill of relating number to quantity at snack and transition time, while continuing to address these skills during center time.

AssessmentAs the frequency and duration of the intervention increases, progress is monitored more often. At Tier III, it may be appropriate for the teacher to check on a child’s progress every couple of days or even several times a day. Th e frequency of progress monitoring will be determined by the collaborative problem solving team and may vary depending on the targeted skill and the staffi ng patterns.

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Collaborative Problem Solving It is important that the decision-making team meet regularly to review information collected regarding the child’s progress. Tier III considerations for the collaborative problem solving team are included below:

• Does the information collected show evidence that this child has made progress with current supports? Is it appropriate to discontinue Tier III support?

• Does this child continue to need intensive support? If so, are the current strategies appropriate, or should new Tier II or III strategies be considered?

• If the information collected shows that this child is making limited progress despite these supports, is it suspected that this child may have a disability? Is a request for evaluation to determine if this child requires special education appropriate? (Note: A referral for an evaluation to determine if a child requires special education is appropriate any time a teacher or family suspects that a child has a disability. Early Childhood SRBI should not be used to delay or deny this type of evaluation.)

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Vignette: Vignette: Th e following is an example of how Early Childhood SRBI might be applied in a preschool classroom. While this example focuses on a literacy skill from the cognitive domain, it is critical that educators consider the progress children are making across all domains of development.

Terry is a teacher in a classroom of four-year-olds. In her preschool program, classroom staff observe and document children’s progress toward early learning goals using Connecticut’s Preschool Assessment Framework (PAF). Th e staff targets several key skills for universal screening three times a year. Because this program uses the PAF to assess all children, the staff decide to tie their universal screening process to this assessment tool. In order to make sure they can compare their observations across classrooms, the staff set up a simple process with common materials planned to elicit a specifi c skill. Th e results of this process serve as a universal screening to identify children in need of additional support. Th e observations of children also serve as documentation for the ongoing cycle of intentional teaching using the PAF.

At a collaborative problem solving team meeting, the results of the universal screening are examined. Th e results show that most children are performing within developmentally appropriate ranges. Th e data also show that the educational experiences and instructional strategies are generally eff ective, and that most children show growth in their ability to recognize similar sounds in speech over the course of the year. However, the assessment information on two students indicates a diff erent pattern of learning.

Using the simple screening procedure, Terry fi nds that when given three familiar items, Bobby and Sophia are not able to identify which names rhyme or have similar beginning sounds. Terry’s classroom observations also indicate concerns in this area for both children. Hearing issues are ruled out since the program has conducted a hearing screening that both children passed. A collaborative team meeting is scheduled for each child. Th e team includes the children’s family members, the teacher,

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the program’s curriculum coordinator, another classroom teacher who specializes in early literacy and the program director.

Each team discusses the results of the screening and additional information that Terry has gathered, including classroom observations and information shared by the children’s families. Th e teams identify strategies to support the children’s skill development and ideas for supporting these skills at home. Th ey agreed that transition times are a great opportunity to introduce additional learning opportunities and

that Terry can sing songs with rhyming and alliteration during all transitions. Th ey also outline a routine of breaking down the

names of the snack and lunch foods, stressing the initial sound (e.g., “P, p, p…. pizza”). Th en the small group

of children thinks of other foods with the same initial sound (e.g., “Does anyone know of another food that starts with ‘p’?”). Finally, Terry will include in the sensory table objects with rhyming names or similar beginning sounds, a favorite area for both Bobby and Sophia. Th is intentional placement of items allows classroom staff to take advantage of learning

opportunities in a favorite environment.

Th e teams also decide that, in order to monitor progress, Terry will repeat the screening procedures for rhyming and

beginning sounds with diff erent words once a week. She will track the children’s progress, and the teams will meet again in three weeks to review the data.

When the team later meets to discuss Bobby’s progress, Terry reports that Bobby is now able to identify rhymes. After one week of providing support, she shares that he stressed rhyming words when repeating a favorite story; however, he was not yet able to complete the task decided upon for monitoring progress. Th e following week, he was able to complete the task. He is now beginning to separate the beginning sound of a word but does not notice similar sounds. Th e team decides to continue using the same strategies for another two weeks to see if Bobby will make additional progress. When the team meets again two weeks later, Bobby is beginning to generate rhymes of his own and the team decides that the additional support can be reduced.

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Terry has also implemented these strategies with Sophia, and her team meets at three weeks and six weeks into the intervention. Th e data shows that Sophia had not demonstrated signifi cant progress. Terry notes that Sophia is experimenting with words and listens to the sounds more intently, but she is still not able to identify rhymes and/or similar initial sounds. Th e team decides to continue the same strategies but adds an additional one: Once a day, the assistant teacher will have Sophia choose one book

from a selection of rhyming books. Th e assistant teacher will read the book to Sophia and other interested children, repeating the rhyming words after each page. Th e book Sophia has chosen will also be sent home so her family can read it with her. Given the more intensive support, the team decides upon a more frequent schedule for monitoring progress. Terry will monitor Sophia’s progress twice a week.

When the team meets again, the documentation shows that Sophia has begun to notice rhyming words during the daily routine and is able to complete the rhyming portion of the screening prompt with a variety of objects. Although Sophia is still not able to complete the activity with similar beginning sounds, her mother reports that a day earlier, after playing with her friend Sarah, Sophia had said, “Sarah and Sophia sound the same.” Th e team decides to continue the Tier II supports for a few more weeks. Th ey will then convene and decide if Sophia needs additional intensive support to help her begin to notice similar beginning sounds.

RESOURCESAdditional information about SRBI

A Family Guide: Connecticut’s Framework for RTI www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/cali/family_guide_to_srbi.pdf

Using Scientifi c Research-Based Interventions:Improving Education for All Students www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/cali/srbi_full_document.pdf

Additional information about early childhood learning standards and curriculum

CT Preschool Curriculum Frameworks www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PDF/DEPS/Early/Preschool_framework.pdf

CT Preschool Assessment Frameworkswww.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PEPS/Early/Preschool_Assessment_Framework.pdf

CT State Department of Education Prekindergarten to Grade 8 Curriculum Standards www.sde.ct.gov/sde/cwp/view.asp?a=2618&Q=320954

Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE)Bureau of Teaching and Learning www.sde.ct.gov • 860-713-6740

State Education Resource Center (SERC)www.ctserc.org • 860-632-1485

Th e printing of this brochure was funded through a grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation.